Star Wars - [New Jedi Order 02] - [Dark Tide 01] - Onslaught (by Michael Stackpole)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book could not have been completed without the tireless efforts of a host of folks. The author

wishes to thank the following people for their contributions: Sue Rostoni, Allan Kausch, and Lucy Autrey

Wilson of Lucas Licensing Ltd.; Shelly Shapiro, Jennifer Smith, and Steve Saffel of Del Rey; Ricia

Mainhardt, my agent; R. A. Salvatore, Kathy Tyers, and Jim Luceno, my partners in crime; Peet Janes,

Timothy Zahn, Tish Pahl, and Jennifer Roberson; and, as always, Liz Danforth for keeping me sane

through the whole process.

Also by Michael A. Stackpole

WARRIOR: EN GARDE

WARRIOR: RIPOSTE

WARRIOR: COUPE

LETHAL HERITAGE

BLOOD LEGACY

LOST DESTINY

NATURAL SELECTION

ASSUMPTION OF RISK

BRED FOR WAR

MALICIOUS INTENT

GRAVE COVENANT

PRINCE OF HAVOC

DEMENTIA

A GATHERING EVIL

EVIL ASCENDING

EVIL TRIUMPHANT

ONCE A HERO

TALION: REVENANT

EYES OF SILVER

A HERO BORN

AN ENEMY REBORN

WOLF AND RAVEN

STAR WARS: ROGUE SQUADRON

STAR WARS: WEDGE’S GAMBLE

STAR WARS: THE KRYTOS TRAP

STAR WARS: THE BACTA WAR

STAR WARS: ISARD’S REVENGE

STAR WARS: I, JEDI

PROLOGUE

Standing there, on the bridge of his Nebulon-B frigate, the pirate Urias Xhaxin clasped his cybernetic left

hand to the small of his back with his right hand. He stared straight ahead at the tunnel of light into which

his ship, theFree Lance, flew. Given the nature of the frigate’s design, with the bridge far forward, he felt

as if he were flying there alone, making his way deep into the territory of the Outer Rim where no one in

his right mind would be found.

He glanced back over his shoulder at the Twi’lek working the navigation station. “Time to reversion,

Khwir?”

The Twi’lek’s long lekku twitched. “Five minutes.”

Xhaxin turned on the comlink clipped to his jacket’s collar. “All hands, all hands, this is Xhaxin. Red and

Blue Squadrons, prepare for launch. You will be moving to the outbound vectors and disabling the

smaller yachts. Gunners, we will aim for the escorts. Everyone look sharp and this may be the last run we

ever need make. In and out, clean and easy. You’ll all do well, I know. Xhaxin out.”

A dark-haired woman stepped up beside Xhaxin. “You really think this haul will earn us enough to

retire?”

“It depends upon the quality of retirement you desire, Dr. Karl.” The white-haired, white-bearded man

turned and smiled at her. “Your skills will earn you a good living almost anywhere in the New Republic,

and your share of this raid should be enough to buy you a new identity or two.”

Anet Karl frowned. “Ever since the peace between the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic six

years ago, we’ve been forced to go after smaller and smaller targets. The New Republic never condoned

what we did, but they turned a blind eye to it while the Imperials were still a threat. Pickings were good

as unreconstructed Imperials fled out here to the Remnant, but that trade has been trickling off. Is this

raid going to be different?”

Xhaxin pursed his lips for a moment, then lowered his voice. “It’s a fair question you ask. The answer is

yes, I can feel it in my bones. This raid will be like nothing we’ve seen in the last five years.”

Anet smiled mischievously, her brown eyes sparkling. “You’re not going Jedi on me, are you? The

Force tells you about this raid?”

“No, I’m far more practical than the Jedi, and more dangerous, too.” He spread his arms. “We’ve

nearly nine hundred crew on this ship—nine times the number of Jedi in the whole of the galaxy. And

while they have the Force to aid them, I have two powerful allies with me: greed and arrogance.”

“Oh, your plan was good.”

“Correction, my plan was brilliant.” Xhaxin laughed. “We let a couple of ships go free because they’re

traveling together, then I set up a guy who says he can organize convoys through deep space to the

Remnant. We had people demanding positions in our convoy. In fact, they paid well for the privilege of

traveling safely.”

“But no refunds, correct?” The doctor smiled. “The credits they’ve spent are just a down payment?”

“Exactly. They gathered at Garqi, have headed out, and the last of them should be hitting the rendezvous

point in ten minutes. We’ll round up what’s already there, then pick off the last one and go.” Xhaxin

smoothed his mustache with his flesh-and-blood right hand. “It’s been a grand run. This last raid—it will

be remembered. I would have had history recall me in other ways, but this will be good enough,

especially if all of you can be rewarded for your hard work.”

Anet Karl looked at the various humans and aliens busy at their duty stations on the bridge. “We had no

love lost on the Empire either, Captain. We owe you our thanks for keeping us alive and allowing us to

pay them back all these years. We’d keep going, too—”

“I know, but the New Republic has made peace with the Remnant.” Xhaxin sighed. “One cannot

underestimate the allure of peace. I think, perhaps, we’ve finally earned some ourselves.”

“Ten seconds to reversion, Captain.”

“Thank you, Khwir.” Xhaxin waved a hand toward the viewport. “Behold, Doctor, our destiny.”

The tunnel of light shattered into countless stars of varying hues. They’d come out into the middle of

nowhere, literally—a point in space that had been selected only because gravitational forces made it

perfect for speeding the way from Garqi to Bastion in the Imperial Remnant.This place is supposed to

be empty.

Empty it was not. Aside from the burning wreckage of a twisted freighter spinning madly, life pods and

yachts darting about, a large object hung there in space. Xhaxin thought at first it had to be an asteroid

because of its appearance, uneven surface, and torpid pace. Other smaller asteroids seemed to orbit

around it, then streaked out on attack runs on the yachts.

And now they’re orienting on us!Xhaxin spun away from the viewport. “Full shields up, now! Deploy

the fighters. I don’t know how some fool managed to fit a hyperdrive core to an asteroid, but he’s not

stealing our ships! Gunnery, get a firing solution on that big rock and open it up.”

“As ordered, Captain!”

Even as he issued orders and pondered making a planetoid somehow mobile, Xhaxin knew that that line

of reasoning did not explain the smaller rocks that moved like starfighters. “Sensors, what’s going on out

there?”

A Duros looked up through holographic displays of data, his long face wearing an expression that was

even more morose than usual. “Gravitic anomalies, sir, everywhere.”

“Tractor beams? Gravity-well generators?”

“Different, sir.” The Duros frowned as a wash of data filled his holograph with overlapping spheres of

color. “Focused, tighter beams, more powerful.”

TheFree Lance ’s turbolaser batteries opened up, sending long streams of sizzling red bolts at the

asteroid. The shots looked to be on target, then deviated sharply in their flight. The bolts sharpened their

angle of attack, coming together nearly half a kilometer before they hit the asteroid. Xhaxin expected the

beams to flash through that new focal point and still hit the target, but instead they vanished.

“What happened? Guns, sensors, what happened?”

His gunner, an Iotran named Mirip Pag, shook his head in disbelief. “We had firing solutions, Captain.

We were on target.”

The Duros, Lun Deverin, stabbed a quivering finger at a small sphere in a holograph. “A gravitic anomaly

pulled the shots in. It’s as if they’re using a black hole to shield themselves.”

Xhaxin turned to look at the data and watched as the sphere in question expanded and moved toward

the frigate. At the moment of contact, a jolt ran through the ship. Alarms began to sound, announcing that

the starboard shield had collapsed.

“Come about to a heading of 57 mark 12, ahead full. Shear off whatever that beam is.”

“Another one coming in, Captain. It will take the aft shield . . .”

Pen Grasha, theFree Lance ’s starfighter control officer, shouted above the warning sirens. “Captain,

our fighters are having their shields stripped. Their blasters and lasers are not getting through to the

enemy.”

The Duros waved a hand, then grabbed his sensor station in a tight grip. “Brace for impact. They’ve

fired upon us.”

Impact?Xhaxin turned toward the viewport and saw a sizzling golden ball of

something—plasma?—flash past. It caught the frigate in midmaneuver, hitting just port of center. The

port shield caught the blast, but collapsed in seconds, sending a shower of sparks through the bridge and

skittering one crewman across the floor. A heartbeat later whatever had gotten through the shield

slammed into theFree Lance ’s armored hull.

Thank goodness we have extra armor.Xhaxin had devoted a lot of resources to reinforcing the armor

on the frigate. It had stood up to shots from an Imperial Star Destroyer before, and they’d lived to tell

about it.We also ran away so we could tell about it.

The impact momentarily knocked the ship’s artificial gravity generators out of phase, so Xhaxin flew

from his feet and into Dr. Karl. Within a second, gravity returned, dropping both of them to the deck, but

neither landed too hard. Xhaxin rose to one knee and helped the doctor up into a sitting position as he

turned to look at the Duros. “What was that?”

“I don’t know, Captain, but it’s still eating into the hull.” The blue-skinned alien paled. “I project a hull

breach on deck seven in twenty seconds.”

“Evac the area and close the bulkheads.”

“More shots incoming!”

No! This can’t be happening!Xhaxin’s hands, both flesh and metal, convulsed into fists. He pushed

aside the despair and panic raging through him.Time to be the sort of man that causes a crew to be so

loyal.

“Pen, recall our fighters. Load those without hyperdrives first. Khwir, plot me a jump out of here.”

The Twi’lek’s lekku palsied. “The gravitic anomalies are constantly shifting. Calculating a jump solution

is impossible.”

“Are they enough to prevent us from jumping?”

“No, but—”

Xhaxin snarled, then staggered to a knee as another shot from the asteroid shook the frigate. “Then jump

blind. Send the coordinates to our fighters, but jump blind.”

“Captain, a blind jump could kill us.”

“A blind jumpmight kill us.” Xhaxin stabbed a finger at the viewport. “Theywill kill us. Do it, Khwir, do

it,now !”

“As ordered, Captain.” The Twi’lek started punching coordinates into the navicomputer. “Ready to

jump in five seconds, Captain. Four, three . . .”

Xhaxin looked at the viewport and saw a glowing golden ball expanding to fill it. He didn’t know who

his attackers were, why they were there, or how their weapons functioned. As he pondered those things

the view of space exploded. In that moment, somehow he knew that while having the answers to his

questions might bring him some inner peace, the same would not be said of the New Republic.

CHAPTER ONE

Standing near the head of the senate chamber, waiting to be invited to the dais by Chief of State Borsk

Fey’lya, Leia Organa Solo found herself a bit nervous. Years rolled back—decades, in fact—reminding

her how she had felt when she first entered the Imperial Senate as the youngest person ever elected to

such high office. She’d stood as a candidate to help her father, Bail Organa, continue his opposition of

Palpatine and the madness that would permit things like Death Stars to be created.

I was young then, very young, and understandably nervous.She looked around at the massive

chamber and across the sea of senators filling it. It didn’t have the grandeur of the old chamber, the one

in which she had first served, but she felt a rich sense of tradition in it from the New Republic’s days.

Back in the Imperial era—after Palpatine had seized full power—there were no more than a handful of

nonhumans in the chamber, and then they were just aides to human senators. Now the humans were in

the minority, much as they had been in the Old Republic. She could see Senator Viqi Shesh of Kuat and

one of her telbuns, and Senator Cal Omas from Alderaan, but beyond them she had a hard time seeing

more humans.

And it’s not just age catching up with my eyes.She smiled to herself, not wanting to be reminded of

how much of her life had already passed by. Much of it had been spent here on Coruscant, helping form

the New Republic into the star-spanning confederation of worlds that had emerged from the Empire’s

shadow.Or I was out fighting the Empire, being shot at. In here the attacks were more subtle, but

almost as lethal. She shivered as she recalled the old senate chamber even being bombed once.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw Danni Quee, the young woman who barely two months ago

had survived an attack and capture by an aggressive alien group that had assaulted several worlds on the

galaxy’s Outer Rim. Danni had been working at a research site used to monitor space beyond the edge

of the galaxy and had collected some evidence to suggest the invaders had actually come from another

galaxy. Their ruthless tactics, coupled with the sheer economics of mounting an invasion from a distant

galaxy, suggested to Leia that the aliens had to be intent on taking a great portion of this galaxy for their

own. She’d come to the senate to apprise the New Republic of this threat and enlist aid for the Rim

worlds that would be facing the brunt of the alien onslaught.

Beside the petite, brunette woman stood Bolpuhr, Leia’s Noghri bodyguard. The Noghri were devoted

to Leia and her brother, Luke, because of their efforts to repair the damage done to the Noghri

homeworld of Honoghr by the Empire. In their gratitude, the Noghri warded Leia and her family with a

fierce loyalty that was second only to that of a Wookiee with a life debt.

The pitch of Borsk Fey’lya’s voice shifted out of a deep drone to something a bit higher. Leia

remembered how his voice would rise when he felt stressed. It brought her head up, and she focused her

attention on what the Bothan was saying.

“. . . And so, it is my distinct pleasure to welcome back to this chamber a woman who has been more at

home here than anyone else in the senate’s history. I present to you Leia Organa Solo, envoy from

Dubrillion.”

And about time, too,Leia thought.You’ve been giving me the runaround long enough. She’d been

trying to get this audience for weeks.

Fey’lya turned away from the podium and waved her forward. The Bothan had chosen to wear a

sand-colored robe that was only a shade or two darker than his cream-colored fur. Violet piping that

matched his eyes trimmed it. Leia found the robe reminiscent of the simple garments Mon Mothma used

to wear when addressing the senate or the people, but somehow it failed to grant the Bothan the air of

simple nobility it had given Mon Mothma.

Leia had chosen to wear black boots and slacks, with a cerulean tunic. She also wore her hair up, letting

her entire outfit and demeanor hint at the martial encounters that were the basis for her report. She knew

it made her distinctly underdressed for the opulent senate, but she also hoped it would make some of

those present harken back to the days when battle dress was the order of the day and decisions had to

be made quickly.

“Thank you, Chief Fey’lya. Esteemed senators and honored guests, I bring you the greetings and well

wishes of the people of Dubrillion. It is their wish I inform you of a grave crisis in the Outer Rim. A

previously unknown species has launched a series of attacks in the Rim. They wiped out the ExGal-4

station on Belkadan, attacked the world of Dubrillion, destroyed the New Republic shipRejuvenator at

Helska, and annihilated the world Sernpidal by crashing its moon into it. We managed to locate the alien

base at Helska 4 and destroy it, but this does not end the threat.”

Leia looked up at her audience and was surprised at how many senators seemed to be bored, as if she

were the narrator for some Kuati manners-play.Well, I’ve not told them anything they don’t already

know, but now they have to acknowledge it and deal with it. She cleared her voice and glanced at

the datapad on the podium for her notes.

“On Belkadan, Luke Skywalker found evidence of an ecological disaster that radically altered the

atmospheric composition of the world. This disaster has been traced to an alien agent who was present

on the world and slain there after he attacked Mara Jade Skywalker and my brother. The evidence

seems to suggest that the aliens were preparing the world to be used as a base for invasion.”

Before she could continue, a hunchbacked, saurian senator representing the various Baragwin

communities stood slowly. “If it would please the senate, I would ask the speaker if she is the same Leia

Organa Solo who undertook to mediate the Rhommamool-Osarian dispute.”

Leia’s eyes narrowed as she lifted her chin. “Senator Wynl is well aware that I am the same person who

went to try to broker peace in that conflict.”

“And was it not the action of a rash Jedi Knight that forced the Osarians to launch the attack that

embroiled the system in war, killing Nom Anor, the Rhommamoolian leader, in the process?”

Leia held her hands up. “With all due respect, Senator, the Rhommamool-Osarian conflict has little or

nothing to do with the invasion I’m talking about.”

Borsk Fey’lya turned toward Leia from his position on the dais to her right. “Little or nothing? This

would suggest theremight be some sort of a connection.”

She nodded uneasily. “When the invader attacked Mara, he first tried to destroy Artoo—the R2

astromech droid my brother uses. The alien was shouting the same sort of antidroid rhetoric that the Red

Knights of Life on Rhommamool used in their crusades.”

The Bothan blinked his violet eyes. “So you are suggesting that these Red Knights are behind the

poisoning of Belkadan, the destruction of Sernpidal, and the attack on Dubrillion? And they had weapons

sufficient to drag a moon from orbit, yet were not able to defend their leaders against an attack by the

Osarians? Am I understanding you correctly?”

“No, I don’t believe you are, Chief Fey’lya.” Leia let a hint of iciness enter her voice. “I don’t believe

the alien on Belkadan was influenced by the Red Knights, but it is possible that the Red Knights are part

of a covert plot to disrupt the New Republic.”

Another senator, this one a Rodian, stood. “You would have us believe, Envoy, that your effort failed

because of a conspiracy born from outside the galaxy?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

Niuk Niuv, the senator from Sullust, rose to his feet. “I don’t believe it is, either. I believe you are trying

to deflect us from the threat the Jedi present to the New Republic. It was a Jedi who raised the tension

level of the Osarians, triggering that war. You tell us a Jedi reported to you about this alien, and about

what he said. I am not so stupid that I cannot see the effort of a Jedi to turn us away from trouble their

order has spawned.”

“The Jedi on Belkadan was my brother, Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master!”

“And who would more want to have the errors of his disciples forgotten?”

Leia forced her grip on the podium to slacken. “I am well aware of the controversy surrounding the Jedi,

but I ask you, in all good conscience, to focus beyond that debate and concentrate on what I’m telling

you. An invasion has been mounted from outside this galaxy, and it will destroy the New Republic if you

do not act to stop it now.”

A human senator Leia failed to recognize rose to speak. “Forgive me, but it is a well-known and

long-established fact that a hyperspace disturbance on the edge of the galaxy makes travel into or out of

the galaxy impossible. This supposed invasion could not have taken place.”

Leia shook her head. “If that barrier does exist, they found a way around it. They were here, and there is

ample evidence of their invasion in the Outer Rim.”

The Quarren, Pwoe, rose and brushed fingertips over his pointed chin. “I am confused, then, Envoy.

You told us that you had been part of an effort to destroy the invading force. I was led to believe you had

been successful.”

“We were.”

“So there have been no more sightings of these invaders since then?”

“No, but that—”

“And do you have evidence to link them to the Red Knights other than hearsay about comments by a

creature that is now dead?”

“No, but—”

“You do have physical evidence of the invaders?”

“Some. A couple of bodies, a couple of their coralskippers.”

Fey’lya smiled, flashing sharp teeth. “Coralskippers?”

Leia closed her eyes and sighed. “These aliens appear to rely on genetically engineered biomechanical

creatures. Their fighter craft are, well, grown out of something called yorik coral.”

The Bothan shook his head. “You’re telling us that they used rocks to kill a Star Destroyer?”

“Yes.”

Pwoe glanced down at his desk, then looked up with a malevolent glint in his black eyes. “Leia, as one

who has looked up to you in the past, I beg you, please, stop now. You cannot know how pathetic you

appear to be. You chose to leave public life. For you to come here now, with this story, in such a bald

attempt to take back control from our hands, is a pitiful thing.”

“What?” Leia blinked her astonishment away. “You think I came here to make a power grab?”

“I am given nothing else to think.” Pwoe opened his hands and took in the whole of the chamber. “You

want to protect your brother, your children, for they are all Jedi, and I can understand that. It is also clear

you do not think we are capable of surviving any catastrophe without you, but the plain fact is that things

have gone well since the resolution of the Bothan situation. We all understand the human lust for power,

and we have admired you for suppressing it for so long, but now, this—”

“No, no, that’s not my intention at all.” Leia looked aghast at the senators. “What I am telling you is true,

it’s real. We may have thrown back a vanguard, but they’re coming.”

The Sullustan senator covered his ears with his hands. “Please, Leia, no more, no more. Your loyalty to

the Jedi is laudable, but this attempt to make us think they might be useful because of some nebulous

threat—it is beneath you!”

“But veryhuman of her,” the Baragwin sniffed.

An invisible fist seemed to close around Leia’s heart and squeeze hard. Her elbows bent and she rested

her forearms on the podium. “Youmust listen to me!”

“Leia, please, do what Mon Mothma has done.” Pwoe’s voice filled with pity. “Fade away quietly. The

government is ours now. Let us remember you fondly, as someone who transcended her humanity.”

Leia looked out at the senators and wished age had dulled enough of her vision so she couldn’t see the

looks of contempt being directed at her.They won’t see because they can’t allow themselves to see.

They need to be in control so badly they will ignore danger instead of admitting there is a crisis.

They will lose everything just because they want to prove they are in control. Their willful ignorance

left her drained and speechless, with the weight of their pity and contempt crushing her down.

This can’t be happening. Everything we have gained to be thrown away so foolishly.Leia’s grip on

the podium slackened as she began to back away from it.To lose everything . . .

A strong, sharp voice cut through the low murmuring in the senate chamber. “How dare you? How dare

any of you speak to her this way?” In the middle of the room, a golden-furred alien, long and lean, with

purple striping rising up and back from the corners of his eyes, rose to his full height. “If not for this

woman and the sacrifices of her family, none of us would be here, and most of us would be dead.”

Elegos A’Kla opened his three-fingered hands. “Your blatant ingratitude lends credence to the Imperial

vision of our being mere beasts!”

The Rodian senator stabbed a sucker-tipped finger at the Caamasi. “Don’t forget, she was one of

them!”

Elegos’s eyes narrowed, and Leia felt a wave of pain wash off him. “Can you say that without realizing

how feebleminded it makes you sound? To lump her with Imperials is pure prejudice—prejudice of the

sort that the Imperials flaunted when they oppressed us.”

Niuk Niuv waved away the Caamasi’s comments with a flip of his hand. “Your criticism would bear

more weight, Senator A’Kla, were you not known to have collaborated with Jedi before. Your

sympathies for them run deep. Was not your uncle one of them?”

Elegos drew his head back, emphasizing his height and slender form. “My loyalties to friends and

relatives who were Jedi do not blind me to what Leia has tried to say here. You may choose to see the

Jedi as a threat—and even I would acknowledge that the activities of some leave me cold—but she is

reporting a new threat, perhaps a greater one, to the New Republic. To willfully ignore it so you may

pursue your own glory is the height of irresponsibility.”

Pwoe’s tentacles curled up in anger. “This is well and good for you to say, A’Kla, but your people and

their survival owes much to Leia and her family. Many of you died on Alderaan, and it has been human

guilt and charity that has protected you for decades. Your rising to her defense is not surprising, akin to a

nek battle dog licking the hand of the trainer that beats it.”

Leia felt that comment sink home and returned to the podium. Her voice remained low and placid,

despite the anger spiking inside of her. Though she resented calling upon a Jedi calming technique, she

did, allowing her to focus. Her expression sharpened and her gaze swept out over the assembled

senators.

“You will choose to project on me all manner of sinister motives. This is your right. I can even

understand old resentments being transferred to me, though I would have thought my history would have

shown you where my heart is. Now I don’t even expect you to listen to me, I guess. You see the New

Republic as your own, and I applaud your rising to take responsibility for it. Despite what you might think

or want to believe, you make me very proud.

“Where you disappoint me is in turning on yourselves. The New Republic’s strength has always come

from its union of diverse peoples.” She shrugged, then straightened up. “I will leave for you all that we

have learned about these invaders. I hope you will find the information useful when you find a time to

employ it.”

Star Wars - [New Jedi Order 02] - [Dark Tide 01] - Onslaught (by Michael Stackpole)

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